Raindrops
Chapter 5: Get Well Soon
A/N Not gonna lie, I was pretty unhappy with how the last chapter turned out, it was pretty grueling to actually write. Anyway, I'm pushing onward!
Marron didn't realize it then but Goten had gotten significantly taller than the blonde, more-so than he already was. She dusted down her long pink skirt, the palm of the blonde's hand feeling the soft material. That was before she looked back up to the onyx-eyed warrior, a friendly grin laced on his face. Marron was never sure if the seeming happiness the Son's seem to radiate was ever just...fake.
She personally believed nearly all of them seemed inhuman, it was at times just a bit unsettling just how nonchalant Goten and Goku were. In fact, she only recalled a moment of desperation struck across Goten's face was during Buu's reign of terror. But Marron's memory was hazy, she couldn't recall significant events many mentioned. Trunks and Goten seemed to never speak about that time, almost as if it never happened. The blonde could only assume that being the group of select members of society that still recalls the event must have forced them to deal with that trauma by themselves.
"So, West City, huh?" Goten asked as he strolled beside the blonde, "someone's reaching big."
Marron scoffed, promptly folding her arms over her chest. "I'll have you know, I'm doing great here! Not necessarily reaching." She wasn't necessarily wrong, she was doing significantly better but she'd never admitted that she jumped ship a bit too soon, at the first given opportunity she took the bait and ran.
Goten swatted his hand, chuckles laced within his words. "Enough that you gotta reassure me?" The blonde clicked her tongue, her cheeks fuming with ire. "But you could have moved to Satan City, or East City...so why here?" Marron glanced over to Goten, her icy blue eyes flicking between the cloudy sky and the building adjacent to her. Before she was able to open her mouth, Goten, yet again, butted in to interrupt. "Oh, I know! You still like Trunks, don't you?!"
The blonde froze in place, casting an accusatory glance at the hybrid with gravity-defying hair. "No," the blonde began cautiously, "and how did you even know I had a crush on him?" Marron questioned, inching closer to the taller man.
"Because...you were pretty obvious about it," Goten started slowly, "I-I mean, okay, you would come over when Krillin and my dad would hang out and ask if Trunks was there every single time." Goten stated, his hands raised up defensively, "not my fault, I could just TELL."
With her face flushed from embarrassment, the blonde licked her teeth before turning around, feeling her pigtails whip in the wind. "Well I don't even like him anymore, so don't get the wrong idea...I'm not trying to steal your lover."
Goten scoffed, before eyeing the top of the blonde's head, "I mean did you ever think Trunks and I were-"
"YES at one point." Marron did, in her youth believe the two had something going on between them...but the vagueness and exclusion she had as a child led her to drop the investigation. Right on cue, Goten erupted into an uproarious fit of laughter. "It's not that funny," Marron chided, "I swear it's like I'm talking to a thirteen-year-old."
The blonde sighed as she made her way into her apartment, her eyes heavy as her afternoon outing with Goten replayed in her mind. She couldn't truly decide whether what she was feeling for Trunks was a sense of friendship, or perhaps...something more than that? She pushed the white door that leads to her bathroom and started running a bath. With tiny palms pressed against the marble sink, Marron glanced at her tired expression. Her pigtails were disheveled, one lower than the other, with blonde hairs running astray on her scalp, the mascara she applied before work now creating ringlets around her eyes from the fallout.
With one swift action, she slipped her long skirt off and kicked it to the side then began unbuttoning her dress shirt.
She quickly found her way into the medicine cabinet, dropping fragrant oils into the water before dipping herself in, her face half-submerged in the water. Her fingertips grazed across the soft, supple skin. Marron kept going back to the voluptuous Jessica Rabbit look-a-like that morning, and that same feeling in the pit of her stomach resurfaced. She understood that her feelings for her childhood crush could simply be resurfacing in an immature fashion and her feelings for the aforementioned Saiyan hybrid were only becoming more and more vicious.
As much as Marron wished to fight it, there has always been some dormant, yet vague, feelings.
She stepped out of the bathtub watching as the water went down the drain and slipped on her long fuzzy robe, wrapping her hair up in a towel before perfuming herself. It was days like these where she felt, time to herself was necessary.
More-so to wash away the stress from the hectic week. She languidly strolled into her small kitchen, pouring water into an electric kettle and flicking it on. Before she could turn to her couch there was a knock on her door, Marron's heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she wasn't expecting anyone. The blonde looked into the peephole and saw her lavender-haired neighbor awkwardly standing in front of her door.
Marron pressed her back against the door, quickly covering her hand over her chest as her face burned hotly. "Speak of the devil," she mumbled out, as she opened the door slightly only peering out to show her icy blue eyes, "Trunks?"
Trunks wasn't looking at her, more-so looking at the ground. "I- uh, sorry I know it's late," Trunks managed to mumble out. "Can we talk?"
Marron's eyes shifted from left to right, tightening her grip on her robe. "Uh...sure, but just know I'm in my robe..." Marron mumbled, "if you don't mind I-" Marron continued before catching sight of Trunks' face almost red in embarrassment.
"Kami, alright, if you want I can leave," he stuttered out, quickly turning on his heel all before Marron opened the door, beckoning the hybrid to come inside. Indecisiveness struck him as he eyed the blonde in a suspicious manner before stepping inside.
Marron walked back into the kitchen, disconnecting the kettle and pouring the water into a cup. "I'm making some tea, do you want a cup?" Trunks, who sat down on the white couch, looked over and simply nodded. His hands were crossed as the blonde walked over a cup of tea and handed it over to him, before sitting on the arm-chair. "You needed to talk to me?"
Trunks sighed, glancing down at the warped reflection of his face in the small cup. "Yeah, I don't normally talk about this with people, but right now, you're probably the only person who wants to talk," Trunks replied sheepishly, "I'm sure Goten's out partying and I may or may not have ditched him."
Marron formed a small 'o' with her lips, placing her cup on the coffee table. She never imagined Trunks and Goten could ever have any sort of falling out, and truly, she hoped that wasn't the case. "Goten hung out with me this afternoon actually, it was nice to catch up with him," Marron began, now taking off the towel from her head, allowing the wet blonde hair to cascade down.
"Yeah, he told me he would," Trunks began but slowed to a pause as he began sniffing the air, almost like a cat when it finds an interesting scent. "Do you smell that?" Trunks asked twitching his nose.
Marron quirked a manicured brow, "what?"
"I don't know it just smells nice, I guess you can't pick up on it..." the hybrid drawled on before taking a sip from his tea.
She rolled her eyes, grabbing the tea from the coffee table. "Yeah, sorry Trunks I don't have a freak Saiyan nose like you," Marron retorted before taking a sip from her tea, her eyes closed as she let the warm liquid go down her throat, "might be the oils I used. They stick to the tub for a while."
"Ah," Trunks mumbled. "Well, anyway, I came here 'cause Goten keeps urging me to go out to these parties...and honestly, I don't even enjoy them half the time."
Marron sighed and leaned back on the chair, "he's trying to help, Trunks...I think being stuck inside your apartment isn't good for you, besides I'm sure you needed to get laid," the blonde teased referencing earlier that day. She noticed the hybrid's reddened cheeks and couldn't help but erupt in a fit of giggles, "oh come on, it was obvious you slept with her."
Trunks looked away, shaking his head. "I said I was done doing that kind of stuff," Trunks firmly stated. He had kept from sleeping with random women for a substantial amount of time, but even alcohol could get to a Saiyan and Trunks, unfortunately, was no exception. He eyed Marron for a moment and the intensity of their glances grew. Both parties feeling the strange clawing feeling rumbling in their chests. "Look Mar, I know we never were very close when we were teens," Trunks started, "you and Goten may actually have closer memories, I know."
"You're telling me, I only saw you an odd couple times at family gatherings, you and Goten always ran off together," Marron recalled.
Trunks grinned, "yeah, we hated those parties." Trunks repositioned himself and glanced over the blonde his face hardening, "but you remember Majin Buu, right?"
Marron was taken aback by the question, "what about him?"
"I just- I just feel like you're the only other person, other than Goten and the adults, I can talk to about this," Trunks stuttered, "I still can't get some of that stuff out of my head." She glanced sympathetically at him, her light blue eyes, warm and accepting as she allowed to become a listening ear for the hybrid. Trunks sighed, sinking into himself before allowing himself to open up to the blonde. "Not being able to help o-or even, stop, my dad," Trunks continued, "I just didn't know what to do...I never felt so helpless."
Marron understood, to a degree, what Trunks was rambling on about. She could only assume he meant his Saiyan pride that his father instilled in him was significantly damaged by the events of Majin Buu and he hasn't gotten over it. I mean, how would you explain such a situation to a therapist, who can not even remember the events of Majin Buu as it was wiped from their memory.
Having to deal with such an issue alone is a trek on its own, Trunks was alone in this ordeal. "I guess, I just feel...really alone right now."
"You know..." Marron began, leaning a bit closer to the demi-Saiyan, "you shouldn't feel alone, Goten and I are here, we remember." A brilliant, warm grin spread across her face, "those days are over now...you should be trying to live life to the max, instead of worrying about something that happened ages ago."
Trunks grit his teeth, glancing over at his fist. "I-I just, I couldn't protect anyone from Buu," Trunks continued before breathing in deeply, "what's gonna happen when my dad or Goku aren't here?"
The question never dawned upon the blonde: what would happen? All of her life, Marron lived under the bubble that the Earth would always be protected by the Saiyans, and their otherworldly powers...but Trunks had a point. Goku and Vegeta both have finite bodies, and will eventually meet their fate, and then what? None of the hybrids were nearly at the same level, and Gotenks barely could keep up to the power of Goku and Vegeta.
"I guess...we'll simply find out," Marron stated, her voice laced with pure dread.
Trunks cast a glance over to the blonde, his eyes quickly catching sight of her bothered expression. "Oh Kami, I didn't mean to start some sort of existential dread or something," Trunks quickly stammered, before Marron swatted her hand and simply smiled.
There was a pregnant pause and Trunks caught himself glancing at Marron, her wet blonde locks falling over the fuzzy robe which covered her. There was some sort of primal instinct that flicked on when he began to wonder if under that robe she was wearing anything. Making a sad attempt to picture what her nude physique would look like, evidently, it was cut short when Marron quirked a brow at him.
Shit. Trunks thought. I stared too long.
A/N: Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season. I've been without my phone for the past few days and it's been actually been motivating me to write as much as I can over break. Lord knows I only write when I have nothing to do. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review ;) !